I’ve spent too many blog posts discussing my Go Green public relations campaigns class to not invite you to our fabulous Captain Planet Carnival on Earth Day next Tuesday!

Captain Planet himself will make an appearance at Tate between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. as we celebrate according to the “Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart” theme. Various environmental student groups will host games such as recycle toss and magnet fishing, plus they’ll paint your face with your favorite earth image. We’ll also have give-aways including green cotton candy, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and bananas! UGA departments will also be on hand to show everyone what they’re doing to advance the state of sustainability at UGA. Come around noon to hear Athens Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison speak!

The Earth Day team has been working extra hard to ensure that this carnival is a success, and I really hope to see you there! I’ll be one of the ones in a tie dye shirt.

The title and header photo on this blog make it fairly clear that I love France and cherish the summer that I spent there. That being said, I was thrilled to pick up The Red & Blacktoday so see one of the students who traveled with me featured on the front page.

Judith is a vibrant woman in her 60’s who came to UGA to pursue her dream of finishing her bachelor’s degree in French. In the summer of 2006, she joined our group as a student on the UGA en France trip in Montpellier. At first it was difficult for us to understand why she would want to spend the summer in France with a group of 20 year olds. We soon realized that Judith is young at heart, and she became a friend (not to mention a wonderful tour guide!) on our trip.

Judith is passionate about both art and education, and she made sure that we all experienced the cultural opportunities that France had to offer. However, Judith’s personality is far from stuffy, and we had a great time with her whether touring the Palais des Papes in Arles, eating lunch for Jordan’s birthday or just riding the tram to our dreaded classes at Paul-Valery.

Perhaps Judith related so well to us because she spent a year in France when she was about our age. She planned on visiting for a summer but ended up staying for an entire year as a nanny in Paris.

I hope you’ll check out the article. It definitely is inspiring to spend time with someone who pursues a French degree because she’s determined to learn more about a language and culture that she loves.

If you read Jackie’s blog or our class’ Go Green blog, then these videos aren’t news to you. But considering that A) we discussed viral videos in WOM class yesterday and B) I think that these are too good to keep to myself, I’ll share our Go Green videos here on my own blog.

Since our campaigns class has 25 members working on one campaign, we divided into several teams to accomplish all of our work for the semester. Several members of the education campaign are responsible for these awesome PSAs, and the whole class is excited to share them. We’re working to air them locally on campus and in Athens. Also, they will be shown at new student orientation this summer!

These PSAs are the first two of a series of four. The first, entitled “Reduce Consumption (and Embarrassment)” shows how putting a computer in sleep mode instead of using a screen saver can significantly reduce carbon emissions. The second, entitled “The World is Not Disposable” is more self-explanatory.

No one in our family completely understands my brother’s since of humor, but we have all learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to birthday and holiday cards. Case in point: my birthday card (pictured below).

So, my brother sent Miley/Hannah to wish me a happy birthday. I guess I’m glad that my big brother can still shop for me in the kids’ section!

Note: After writing this post, I showed the card to my boyfriend. He responded, “I wanted to get you that one!” Perhaps I’ve been sending strong Miley/Hannah vibes!

I don’t go home much, but when I do there are certain things I love to do.

Sleep. Eat barbecue. Buy cute, cheap accessories at Jun Lee.

Jun Lee is a place of dreams. One small room is crammed full of adorable purses, jewelry and other accessories. It’s easy to spend an hour or two poring over the merchandise, which is a bit like flea market jewelry, Claire’s accessories and NYC knockoffs assembled in one small store. Going there with my sister has become a tradition and great source of many adorable necklaces.

According to news reports, the SUV driver was a retired serviceman who may have had some sort of medical episode causing him to speed through the store’s window.

My best wishes to the driver, injured customers (several were trapped underneath the vehicle!) and the store owners who are promising to rebuild.

Side note:

This is certainly not the first time my family has told me of cars crashing into very inappropriate places. My sister and my grandmother both used to live in an apartment building that is home to many retired people. Several parking spaces surround the pool outside, and there has been more than one incident involving someone unintentionally driving to the pool.

Yes, and older woman thinking that she was in reverse crashed through the fence and into the pool. Luckily it was winter and she and her car were supported by the pool cover long enough to be rescued. Scary.

So when I tell you that Atlanta is not the only scary place to drive in the South, will you believe me now?

I won’t exactly be “attending” the conference, but I’ll be using social media to cover the event live with other members of Dr. Russell’s WOM class. (That’s the same class that I write this blog for!)

So look for my team–Kendel, Chris, Sue and Jenny–as we cover the bootcamp on Twitter, Flickr and the event blog. Some of us have used Twitter and Flickr before, but most of us are very new to podcasting and video, so we’ll work hard to bring you some great content! Look for the ugaedb08 tag.

I’m excited to cover the event, and I hope that in between our work we can pick up some great tips about social media.

2. After I fill my brain with social media wisdom and use my little knowledge to cover the event, I’ll be off to participate in the inaugural AIDS Walk Run Athens.

Sadly, Georgia has the eight largest HIV caseload in the U.S. My good friend Lauren is one of the founders of the event, the first of its kind in Athens. They have been raising money all year, including the recent Clips for a Cause fundraiser that invited local hairstylists to donate their time and cut and style hair in exchange for donations to AIDS Athens.

Lauren and her team are so passionate about helping others, and I hope that the events are a great success! If you’re not planning on a day of social media, visit their Web site and register to walk or run.

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I'm a public relations student blogging for a word of mouth communications class. I'm excited to learn more about social media and glad that you can join me for the ride. The posts are sure to be random, but I assure you that your comments are more than welcome.
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